Police used CS spray on teen brandishing knife and hammer

Police used CS spray on teen brandishing knife and hammer

12 December 2018

POLICE used CS spray to disarm a Saintfield youth who had a knife and a hammer during an incident in the town in the early hours of Christmas Day last year.

Nineteen year-old Eamon McGreevy claimed that he got the kitchen knife and hammer to protect himself after his brother was stabbed while returning home from a local pub.

At Downpatrick Court on Monday, however, McGreevy was convicted of two counts of possessing an offensive weapon, though a charge of disorderly behaviour was dismissed.

Deferring sentencing until January 14 for the preparation of a pre-sentence report, District Judge Amanda Brady said people were “not entitled to arm themselves.”

The case had been adjourned from an earlier court when it was stated that McGreevy, of Queen’s Park North, and his brother, Owen, were involved in a confrontation as they walked home with friends shortly after 1.30am.

Evidence was given that following the alleged stabbing McGreevy ran to his home a short distance away, got the hammer and knife, and then returned to the scene.

Ambulance staff had been called to the scene and a paramedic said McGreevy approached her with a knife and told her to get the police.

It was stated that he then got into the back of one ambulance with the knife and hammer, putting paramedics in fear of their safety.

Evidence was also given that when police arrived one officer told McGreevy to the knife before a second officer used CS spray in an attempt to disarm him. McGreevy tried to run away, but stumbled after being kicked by an officer and was arrested.

At Monday’s court, McGreevy said he had drunk five or six vodkas earlier in the evening and was “shocked and scared” after his brother had been attacked.

He claimed police used the CS spray and then hit him a couple of times with a baton, even though he had put down the knife and hammer.

“I had my hands in the air. I had no weapons in them,” he said.

McGreevy also denied a suggestion by a prosecution lawyer that he got the knife and hammer because he wanted to attack the man who had allegedly stabbed his brother.

A defence lawyer said it was “entirely legitimate” for McGreevy to arm himself and that police may have been “mistaken in their actions.”

“He was equalising the situation,” the lawyer remarked.

Convicting McGreevy, District Judge Brady said it was clear from the evidence of the paramedics that McGreevy was “agitated and very volatile.”

She said: “I think he was lucky that something more serious did not happen when police arrived.”

Adjourning sentencing, she added: “This was Christmas Eve. I feel sorry for any resident putting their children to bed and this serious incident was taking place.”